The majority of plastic bottles that are sold containing beverages have a neck with an outer thread onto which a screw cap can be mounted. Even if the beverages are of separate origin the bottles often have corresponding screw threads, such that the screw thread can be regarded as having achieved a degree of standardization. Another property in plastic bottles is due to a resiliency which results in a problem of holding the bottles, especially when they are reduced of their content. This problem is readily notable in bottles of larger volumes, and in bottles of reduced wall thickness. Since a clear trend is to increase the bottle volume while reducing the wall thickness for reasons of environmental care and production costs, there is a growing desire and problem to provide a stable grip about the bottle when pouring its beverage content.
Several suggestions for a handle arranged to be detachably connected to a plastic bottle are found in the patent literature. EP-B-0 670 269 and JP-A-2000 43878 both disclose a handle which is detachably mountable to the neck of a plastic bottle. None of these handles however discloses a closure function in replacement of the original screw cap.
From U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,277 a handle with a closure function is previously known for bottles containing carbonized beverage. This handle comprises a first handle part which can be mounted on the bottle neck by aid of a separate adapter, when the screw cap is removed. The separate adapter has a central opening that provides access to the mouth of the bottle. A second handle part is pivotally connected to the first handle part, and encloses the latter on three sides in a way that both handle parts are gripped by the user's hand when the bottle is lifted. A horizontal pivot axis extends through both handle parts. The second, outer handle part comprises an angled upper portion extending above the bottle opening. From this upper portion, a plug inserts into the bottle mouth when the handle is inactivated. When a force is applied to the handle from a hand gripping the handle, the handle parts are squeezed together upon which the angled upper portion and the plug are pivoted upwards, freeing the bottle mouth such that beverage can be poured out from the bottle via a spout which extends from the bottle opening from the first, stationary part of the handle. Closing of the bottle mouth is achieved by pressing, with the hand, the angled upper portion with the plug arranged in its lower side down towards the bottle mouth.
This prior art handle contains several parts included in a comparatively complex structure, and is for this reason rather expensive both in production and assembly. The structure is also rather space consuming since the movable handle parts are interconnected in a pivot joint which is positioned radially away from the bottle centre. Specifically, an unintentional opening of the bottle can not be prevented if the handle gets into a squeeze during transport and storage, since any force applied from outside towards the bottle inevitably results in the plug being pivoted out from the bottle's mouth.